The 11th Wales Air Ambulance Open Beach Fishing
Competition, organised by members from Pembroke & District
Angling Club, Osprey Sea Angling Club, Haven Angling Group and
West Wales Match Anglers, was held on 13th January
2013 on Amroth beach in South Pembrokeshire. Just like the
previous 3 years, the weather was good with a slight easterly,
rather than westerly, wind that prevailed all day. These
conditions together with the weather forecasts were almost
certainly the reason entries were the best ever at 120 anglers,
which included 5 junior boys, 6 Ladies and 1 Junior Lady. We
thank them all very much indeed for their support and must, once
again, mention Saundersfoot Angling Club as they held a match
within this match which helped swell the numbers. Together with
the nice weather, the sea conditions again looked nigh on
perfect, with a nice low, gentle rolling surf caressing the
sandy beach. 32 anglers, including 3 Ladies & 3 juniors,
including the junior lady, weighed in 60 Flounders, with more
sizeable and undersized fish being caught with quite a few
anglers not bothering to weigh in as they had, despite what
could in the past have been thought of as decent catches, no
chance of making the prize table. It was great to see Amroth
once again, like the previous 3 years, continuing at its best
and fishing like it used to fish when my son, now 30, was 6 or 7
years old. This made for a brilliant competition with just about
every angler catching something.
The winning angler who managed to land 4 decent sized flounder,
remember this was the first time this was fished to the new
Welsh Federation of Sea Anglers size of 30cm, for 1Kg 820gms was
local angler Bernie Davies from Neyland. This netted him the
first prize of £200. Second was another local angler Gwyn Davies
(no relation) from Pembroke Dock also with 4 flounder for 1Kg
715gms, allowing him to pick up the runnerís up prize of £100.
In third place was a Bridgend regular, Andy Young, again with 4
flounders for 1KG 600gms, to get him the third prize of £50. The
pool for the heaviest fish, netting him £120, went to yet
another local angler Thomas Watkins from Kilgetty with a
Flounder of 905gms. The pairís competition, in which both
anglers had to weigh in, was won by Bernie and his partner,
again a local, George Hawkridge from Milford Haven, with 5
Flounder for 2Kg 620gms. Second with 6 Flounder for 2Kg 335 gms
were, father and daughter combo Mike and Evie Williams from
Tenby and third with 5 for 1Kg 880gms were another local pair
Martin Jones & Dai Etherington both from Milford Haven.

The Ladies section was won by the only Junior Lady the
aforementioned Evie Williams with 2 Flounder for 745gms and the
junior section was won by Saundersfoot boy Liam Marklew with 3
flounder for 1Kg 365gms. 2nd Lady was Sheila Mason
(Milford Haven), 1 Flounder for 505gms and third was Keera
Saykill (Saundersfoot) with a Flounder of 340gms. 2nd
Junior was Daniel Tucker also with a flounder of 340gms. We have
to thank James Lemon of FISH4BASS for adding to the prizes for
each section winner with a free guided trip out on his boat or
on shore Bass fishing later this year. Thanks must also go to
Leigh Rogersí wife Angela and her employers, Hong Kong Shanghai
Banking Corporation, as she helped run the magnificent raffle
following the comp and once again, her bosses agreed to match
fund it with a donation equivalent to the raffle takings, up to
£500, which was actually exceeded this year, excellent indeed.

However, the most important result on the day was that the
event, by the time all the money promised is in, will have
raised £81 shy of £2000 for the Wales Air Ambulance pushing the
total raised over the 11 years this competition has been
running, to approx £16,000. To thank for this sterling effort we
must first congratulate the anglers from the organising clubs,
you know who you are, together with Roger Harris of the Amroth
Arms who always puts his premises and valued support at this
eventís disposal. Also we must mention local Air Ambulance
contact Peter Kraus, who was instrumental in starting it all and
who always turns up on the day. Lastly, we must again thank all
the kind and generous sponsors of the event, including those
already mentioned who donated cash, made collections and donated
prizes for the mega raffle which ensured continuation of the
eventís great success. These were, in no particular order, HSBC
Bank, West Wales Match Anglers, James Lemon of FISH4BASS, Roger
Harries (Amroth Arms), Haven Angling Group, EFSA Wales, Andrew
Skeels, Pembroke & District Angling Club, Pembroke Haven Motor
Boat Angling Club, Osprey Sea Angling Club, John OíConnor,
Robbie Scale, Ken Gainfort, Martin & Sandra Thompson of Anglers
Corner Milford Haven, Mervyn Davies, Bart Morgan, Mark Nicholas
of West Wales Angling, Gerald Wickland, Simon Nicholas, Alex
Nicholas, Grainger Tubolt, Martin Jones, Shane Tucker, Phil
Lustig, Steve Davies, James Skeels, Leigh & Angela Rogers. If
anybody feels aggrieved that they have been missed off this list
and we hope there isnít, we are truly sorry, but thank you, most
warmly, for your continued support.

One final thing is that the whole shebang repeats itself in a
few weeks on Sunday the 10th January with the 6th
Felinfoel Brewery Double Dragon RNLI Annual Fishing Open, in aid
of the local lifeboat stations at Angle & Tenby, for which we
now pray for both the equivalent weather and just as good a
turnout.